Blue Bear was the third of the great Spirit Bears created by Earthmaker, who gave him the nature of the east wind and set him up in that quadrant as an Island Weight to suppress the instability of his creation. Blue Bear is the spiritual original of the Mąčo, or Grizzly Bear [inset]. [1] The fur of this Spirit Bear is made of hairs that vary in thickness and color so that he is described variously as "blue" (čo) or "gray." Blue Bear has control over the days, which explains why he is sometimes described as being gray or even polychrome: for days change from sunny to stormy and many states in between, and so run the gamut of the color spectrum.

It is because of Blue Bear's power over the days that some who are blessed by him can "hold the day" and ensure good weather for sacred gatherings. [2] Members of the Blue Bear Subclan, who are descended from Blue Bear, keep calendar sticks which track time, allowing them to give directions to the tribe on when planting or hunting cycles are in effect. Members of this subclan were priests who placed their altars on hills or high bluffs. [3]

Blue Bear led a party to the first gathering of the Hočąk clans at Red Banks. On the way, every time he passed a plant or animal that had sharp and dangerous parts, they were transformed into men who followed in his train. When he arrived at Red Banks he informed all those gathered there that his followers were to be the Soldier Clan of the Hočągara, charged by Earthmaker to ward off evil from the nation. [4]

It is said that when bears or Bear clansmen die, they return to the abode of Blue Bear. [5]

Links: Bear Spirits, Were-grizzles and other Man-bears, Day, Island Weights, Earthmaker, Red Bear, White Bear, Black Bear, Snowbirds.

Stories: featuring Blue Bear as a character: The Creation of the World, The Creation Council, Bear Clan Origin Myth; about grizzles: The Roaster, The Woman who Loved her Half-Brother, Partridge's Older Brother, cp. The Woman Who Fought the Bear; mentioning (spirit) bears (other than were-bears): White Bear, Black Bear, Red Bear, Bear Clan Origin Myth, The Shaggy Man, Bear Offers Himself as Food, Hare Visits His Grandfather Bear, Hare Establishes Bear Hunting, The Woman Who Fought the Bear, The Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Hočąk Clans Origin Myth, The Messengers of Hare, Bird Clan Origin Myth, The Hočąk Migration Myth, Red Man, Hare Recruits Game Animals for Humans, Lifting Up the Bear Heads, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, The Two Boys, Creation of the World (v. 5), Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Brown Squirrel, Snowshoe Strings, Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Spider's Eyes, How the Thunders Met the Nights, The Race for the Chief's Daughter, Trickster's Tail, Old Man and White Feathers, cf. Fourth Universe; set at Red Banks (Mógašúč): The Creation Council, Annihilation of the Hočągara II, The Great Lodge, Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, vv. 1, 2, 3, 5, Bear Clan Origin Myth, vv. 2a, 3, 8, The Winnebago Fort, Waterspirit Clan Origin Myth, The Hočąk Arrival Myth, The Creation of Man, v. 10, Hawk Clan Origin Myth, Pigeon Clan Origins, fr. 1, Eagle Clan Origin Myth, Elk Clan Origin Myth, v. 1, Deer Clan Origin Myth, v. 1, Buffalo Clan Origin Myth, Blessing of the Yellow Snake Chief, Šųgepaga, Gatschet's Hočank hit'e ("St. Peet", "Hočąk Origins"), The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, v. 1, The Seven Maidens, First Contact, Big Thunder Teaches Čap'ósgaga the Warpath.

Themes: having the power to control the winds and/or the weather: Deer Clan Origin Myth, Wolf Clan Origin Myth, Bear Clan Origin Myth (vv. 1, 5), The Gray Wolf Origin Myth, The Chief of the Heroka, East Enters the Medicine Lodge, V. 2, East Shakes the Messenger, South Seizes the Messenger, The Dipper.

Notes:

[1] Walter Funmaker, The Winnebago Black Bear Subclan: a Defended Culture (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota: December, 1986 [MnU-D 86-361]]) 49. Informant: One Who Wins of the Hočąk Bear Clan.

[2] Walter W. Funmaker, The Bear in Winnebago Culture: A Study in Cosmology and Society (Master Thesis, University of Minnesota: June, 1974 [MnU-M 74-29]) 16-17, 65. Dr. Funmaker is a member of the Hočągara tribe. His informant was Walking Soldier (1900-1977), a member of the Bear Clan.

[3] Funmaker, The Winnebago Black Bear Subclan, 49.

[4] Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 186-187. His informant was a member of the Thunderbird Clan.

[5] Radin, The Winnebago Tribe, 187.